Hold Until Relieved. Hold Until Relieved.

So I started with the NCOs. Normally for my forces I choose to give all the NCO’s caps or berets and everyone else helmets – just makes them easier to pick out on the tabletop. But in this case with 3 small sections I thought for variety I’d give two berets and one a regular helmet – but with the chin strap hanging loose of course! How else could I mark him out as an NCO …? Hmmm – I’ll give him a bloody bugle!! 😀 Cause yes the sprue comes with a bugle and who doesn’t like a bugle!  Also gave Maj Howards buddy a beret cause it just seemed appropriate!

Added SMGs to the NCOs and made sure one of them was running and pointing cause everyone knows the most important job of an NCO is to point at where the enemy is at! Also added the PAIT and gave him a spare ammo bag as if he’s running to get into a new spot. I know the 2nd will probably grab the ammo bag but this is war and I’m sure these things happened!

Next up I concentrated on building up the rest of the infantry. Normally I would stick all the heads on first, but when I thought about it a bit I decided that maybe the direction of the head might depend on what they were doing – for instance if they were aiming down a rifle. So cut off a whole bunch of the arm options and started dry fitting them to the models to see what looked good.

Once I was happy with a particular arm setup I glued them on. Went through that process for everyone then stuck on the heads. Slightly annoyed with myself cause I wanted to use the ‘injured head’ on at least one of the models but got carried away sticking everything together and totally forgot. No worries – no doubt I’ll expand the force at some point and I can make use of it!

Then it was on to the accessories. Again – a minor case of sprue paralysis ensued – but I ended up just clipping off a bunch of bits and dry fitting them to see what looked good. I must remember to put all the bits I didn’t use into a baggie marked ‘British Airborne’ – otherwise they’ll go into a bits box and I’ll never remeber what everything is!

Finally I gave the whole group a spray of AP Skelenton Bone. A darker tan or khaki probably would have been better but I didn’t have one so used what I had on hand. Think it should still work out ok as a solid base